A day in the life of...

is TOLERATION even a word?

2011-03-13T14:54:00.006-04:00

. . . the more I keep saying it in my head, the less and less it's sounding like a word. Kevin has to tolerate a lot from me.

He has to tolerate my endless giggling. When we're getting ready to pray at night-we're on bended knee and everything-and I'm giggling with tears running down my face. He just patiently sits there until I'm finished and composed then we pray.

He has to tolerate my licking his neck instead of kissing it. I don't know why or when I started this, but when we hug, I'm at the perfect height to kiss his neck, but instead of kissing it, I lick it. I think secretly he likes this.

He has to tolerate my whining like a puppy whenever I see a puppy. I love dogs. And all he has to do is say the word puppy, and my bottom lip juts out and I start in whining.

He has to tolerate being kicked everyday at dinner. Do not even begin to ask where this tradition got started. I have no idea. But I kick him at the table and he rolls his eyes and says, "Vegetables." Perhaps I started kicking him to get him to eat his vegetables, but I honestly have no recollection of how it ever began.

He has to tolerate my yelling out in excitement ANY time I see a commercial for whatever 'FEST' is going on at Red Lobster. Just last week I saw an advertisement for Lobster Fest and I got really excited. I get just as excited for Shrimp Fest and Crab Fest. Needless to say, he took me to Red Lobster Friday night for dinner. I love that man.

But you know, I have to tolerate a lot too.

Date night!

2011-02-20T16:06:00.002-05:00

Thursday afternoon, Kevin said that he needed to know my feelings on Contra Dancing ASAP. I must admit, I needed to look it up online before I could even give him my opinion. I told him that it seemed like something I would like and if he was willing, I was willing. So-Friday night, we went Contra Dancing. For those of you not in the know, Contra Dancing is several partnered folk dance styles where couples dance in two lines facing each other. A bit like square dancing. Kevin suggested we go, and to admit, I was a bit floored. He was going to go dancing. And it was his idea!!! Crazy. We have danced together a total of 3 times our whole dating/engaged/married life together. On average, once a year. So, since the last time we danced together was at our wedding a year and a half ago, I guess it was time again.

It was actually a lot of fun. There was a lesson for an hour before the dancing actually got started where you could go and learn some various dances. The lessons sure helped a lot. We got to wear buttons that said it was our first time and man was I grateful for those because it gave me an excuse as to my awfulness. We were there for about 2 1/2 hours and it went on for an hour longer, but because the dances kept getting harder and harder, we decided to head out. Kevin said that he liked contra dancing because it was more about placing your body in the right spot than getting correct footwork, which he claims he can't do. All in all, it was a fun evening. Before hand he took me out to a really yummy Lebanese place for dinner where I was not adventurous and only got a gyro. Next time I told him I'd get something a little more daring. It was a great date night!!

On a side note, I was shaving my legs on Saturday and cut my leg worse than I probably ever had. And it wasn't even a new razor! I bled straight for 10 minutes using up a lot of toilet paper to absorb the blood before switching over to a cloth. Band-aid has been applied. Healing has started. But still-OUCH!!! I suppose I'll completely recover with time. And with Kevin not poking at it anymore. Silly boy.

I BLOG!!! (no, really, I do)

2011-02-13T16:50:00.002-05:00

Well, I figured after a year and a half, it was high time to update the blog. Kevin keeps telling me that I need to do it, so...why not. Good luck. It's a long one. Also, it wouldn't let me upload all the pics that I wanted to, so you'll just have to deal with text for a bit until I can upload the rest of the pictures.

Much has happened in the past year and a half. We survived Snowmageddon here last February. I can't even believe it's been a year. Today it's about 50 degrees. This time last year, we were under 3 feet of snow. We missed the first dumping because we were at home in Colorado for the weekend for my nephews' baptism/blessing. We BARELY got there, and then we BARELY got home. We were supposed to leave Friday afternoon, but luckily got out Friday morning before the snow started. We were scheduled to come home Monday evening and that was the ONE DAY that the airport was open for an entire week. We got lucky. Tuesday the snow had started again, and finally quit about Thursday. Out of that entire week, I think I worked about 6 hours. It was pretty sweet. I didn't get pictures of it though. Bummer :( It's not that I'm not used to feet of snow dumping in a couple of days, it's that DC isn't used to it, so people were freaking out. It was fun.

Kevin and I went to the circus last March. It was the first time for him so it was really exciting. I always went growing up, so I knew just what to expect. We're going again this year in a couple of weeks, but even better this year than last year-we got our tickets for 50 % off. Maybe this year we'll be able to afford the $12 cotton candy. Maybe.

We went to the zoo for the first time as a married couple. The DC zoo is great because it's FREE. We really should go more often, but we don't. We were trying to do something fun every month, so April's activity was the zoo. Kevin hadn't ever been to the zoo here before, so it was high time we went. The day was perfect for it because it was April which meant fair weather, and also pre-tourist season. And that's always a plus.

Kevin started school in May!! So that's exciting stuff. He's getting his Master's of Library Science at Catholic University up in the district. He goes generally two days a week. So, it's not so bad. It's a two year program, so we're hoping that he'll be done around May 2012. Again, we're hoping. We'll just see how it goes.

In June, my little sister Katy came out to see me, and we went up to NYC for the weekend. It was her first time, and we had SO MUCH FUN. She wants to make it a yearly event, and I don't see why we can't do that. We had a blast together. She's so cute. Quentin and Georgia (the two kiddos I nanny for) always tell me that I can't call her my little sister because she's taller than me. But she'll always be my baby sister. Even if she is tall and gorgeous.

In July we went to the beach with some of our friends from the ward here. It was fun to drive down Sat. morning with them, spend all day at the beach and drive home Sunday morning. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it. Kevin had a lot of fun boogie boarding. That it until Sunday afternoon when he realized he was badly sunburned. If you ask him, it was probably the worst sunburn he's ever had. I felt so bad for him. He said it was so itchy, and nothing really was able to relieve the itching. I bought all kinds of creams to rub on his back, and by 11pm Monday night, was ready to take him to the emergency room. I was literally putting on my shoes and was probably going to drag him out to the car, when he was able to just sit and not move. It was no fun for either of us, but mostly Kevin. Needless to say, the next week, we went out and bought him a rash guard to wear whenever he goes swimming. He says his torso shall never see the sun again.

In August we went down to Williamsburg, VA for our anniversary. It was crazy that we were celebrating our first anniversary because it went by so fast. We had a lot of fun though. Williamsburg/Jamestown was where the United States was first colonized back in the 1600's so it was really cool to go and visit. We walked through Williamsburg like it was 'back in the day' and it was SO HOT. But we had a good time getting to see how they made guns, where the original capital was, getting to see their jail, and so on. We really had a good time. We also went to Busch Gardens Amusement park and spent the day riding roller coasters. Good vacation!!

Since I feel the need to update everybody on the past year, I can't very well leave out our mouse escapades. So, in about October, we heard scratching in our wall and I knew that we had a mouse. A few weeks later, Kevin and I were sitting on the couch, and I saw this dark thing dart out of our kitchen and underneath the table. I screamed and started hitting Kevin. The next day, I went out and bought some poison to stick in the corners so that it would kill the mouse. After talking with my mom a few days later, she convinced me to just go buy some traps that would kill them. I went to the store and looked around for the old school snap traps, but couldn't find any (luckily because I HATE those. And if you know my husband, you know that's no good for him either). I bought some sticky traps and laid those out in the kitchen. A few days later, we heard some rustling around in the kitchen and we went and looked, and found a mouse stuck to the trap. THANK GOODNESS we thought. We finally caught him. We could sleep easy again.

Nope. Not so lucky. To make a long story short, every time we caught a mouse, another one showed up WITHIN THE HOUR OF CATCHING ONE. I'm not even kidding. We would catch a mouse, and another one would show up within an hour. It would always take us a few days to catch one, but as soon as we did, we would always see another one running through. I wanted to die. Seriously. It was horrible. One Saturday, we caught 6. SIX!!!! It was disgusting. We have caught 10 in all. We still have another little one running around somewhere, but he's clearly the smartest one of them all seeing is how he has lasted this long. One day we stuck a sticky trap in our linen closet because several times we had seen him run in and out of there. I usually bated them with peanut butter but when I stuck this one in there, I stuck cheese on it because I happened to have some out at the time. The next day I checked on it, and the cheese was gone, but there was no mouse. So that night, we put peanut butter on it, and stuck it back in the closet. The next morning, Kevin walked into our bedroom, and stepped right on the sticky peanut buttery trap. The mouse had pushed the trap out from underneath the closet door. Upon taking a closer look at the trap, there was mouse hair ALL DOWN ONE SIDE. I can only assume that he had gotten stuck to it, and ripped himself off of it. Like I said, that is one smart mouse. To sum the story up, we are moving next month.

We went to Indiana for Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun. It was the first time I'd been there. And, I could add three states to the list of places I'd been. We drove, which meant that we passed through West Virginia and Ohio. It was a lot of fun to hang out with Kevin's family. Since we were fairly close, I made Kevin take me up to South Bend because I wanted to see the Notre Dame campus. He took me all around campus. We saw the stadium and “touch down Jesus” he took me to the various places he lived, and worked and had classes. It was fun, and the campus was really pretty despite being late November.

We stayed home for Christmas this year which was great because didn't have to hassle with holiday travelers/traffic and weather. We had a great time sleeping in and just hanging out. For New Years, we decided to head down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. We had such a good time, we might make it an annual tradition. The weather was so great. It was in the 60's when we were there. We sat out on the beach and read for hours, and we went and saw the Wright brothers' museum and where they took their first flight. It was a lot of fun and so relaxing. Highly recommended!!

We're back to the same old, same old again. We don't do much around here, but we do it really well. We're getting excited for our little trip out West for Catherine and Matt's wedding. We don't what else we're doing this year, but hopefully, and when I say hopefully I mean HOPEFULLY we'll keep you all updated!!!!

2009 Birthday Celebrations

2009-09-23T20:55:00.005-04:00

This past weekend Kevin and I celebrated our birthdays (his the 23rd and mine the 24th) by taking a Riverboat ride up the Potomac from Alexandria to Georgetown. It was a lot of fun. We got to see some of the sights and grab dinner, and head on back down. It was really fun, but cold on the way home because it was dark and windy. (O.K...one of the pictures I MAY have forgotten to un-zoom the camera, but we both have pretty eyes, so I put it up!)

Tonight we also celebrated Kevin's birthday. There's a seriously funny story behind this picture that nobody's gonna find funny because nobody was there, but it brought me to tears from laughing so hard. So...I've been super busy lately, and haven't had time to go to the store, so I told Kevin he wasn't going to have any candles on his cake. He told me that I could scrounge up candles from around the house and light those. I said I probably had enough (27!) to light because I collect candles, and they really are all over. He said if I lit three that would be good enough because 3 cubed is 27. So I found three, and lit them. I sang to him all by my lonesome, and told him to blow out the candles. He took a big breath in and blew really, really hard. He blew out only the middle one. I busted up laughing because there were only three, and they were really close together. He said he was so focused on blowing out the middle one that he couldn't get the other two. I was still laughing while he started to finish blowing out the other two. He took another big breath, blew, and missed both candles entirely. He took one more, and blew out...only one candle. Only on the fourth breath did he blow out all three, yes count them, 3 candles! I told him it was a dang good thing he did not actually have 27. Good grief!!! Well, that's all for today. I get to open my presents tomorrow. Goody!!

I got my pictures!!!

2009-09-12T12:54:00.004-04:00

I finally got my CD of pictures from the photographer, and am so happy that I finally get to start printing some out. It's about time!!! Here's a little preview for all of you.

Like there's not enough on my plate already. Now this?

2009-07-21T14:12:00.003-04:00

On top of not having my stupid countdown clock working (10 days 22 hours BTW) I chipped a tooth today biting down on a very yummy cracker. That can't be good right? So here's the thing. I already have a dentist appointment set up on the 15th of August to have a root canal (on that tooth I might add. Maybe it's a sign...). Do I leave it until then, or go in earlier and see if they can file it a bit? It doesn't really bother me, I just don't want to lose it completely. Now I'm nervous. WHAT SHOULD I DO?!?!?!

Am I dead yet?

2009-07-20T13:58:00.003-04:00

So...I've added a countdown to help me remember when I'm getting married. Because, you know, I could forget. I've been to told to update my blog. Here you go Dad. Wedding plans are just about done. Thank goodness! I've been busy with so many things, but for the next 2 days I've got nothing to do (Sssshhh. I don't want Kay finding out I'm not doing anything) because I need Kay's help with what I've got left. Getting married is really hard sometimes. At least if you live in Alexandria, Virginia. Alexandria is probably the worst place to live. They take all your money in really random ways, and make things difficult to do. For instance: our marriage license. We are getting married, technically in Montgomery Country, Maryland, because that's where the temple is. Well, the temple sent us our application for marriage in MoCo (you know, Montgomery County-stay with me now people) to be filled out and notarized by a clerk of the court in Alexandria. We go in one Thursday afternoon on Kevin's lunch break to do this thinking, of course, that there wouldn't be any problem. But as Kevin points out so often, with things involving him, there's usually a problem. So, we go, and the lady says we need to make an appointment with Mr. So and So and here is his contact info. Kevin calls and the man says he only has next Thursday open. Goody. We get to wait a week. Meanwhile, the temple calls me wondering where our marriage license is, because we're getting married in three weeks, and they want to make sure they have it. I explain to her the situation, and and tells me that I should consider driving the application up to the courthouse in MoCo so that they have plenty of time to mail over the license to the temple. She calls back a few days later and says if I'm driving the application to the courthouse, then I can just drive the license to the temple. Fine. Keep in mind I have a 2 year old with me during all of this. So we go back the next Thursday to meet with Mr. So and So. He looks at my license to make sure I actually do live in Alexandria, like I claim, and goes back to sign and notarize it (all of which took 5 minutes. We needed to make an appointment for that?). Friday I drive the application to MoCo courthouse. She looked at the application and told me I could've mailed this in. I said to make sure we had enough time, I decided to drive it up. She then proceeds to tell me that if that was the plan, I could've just walked in at any time and done this because all she's gonna do is take the info off the paper, put it in the computer, throw the paper away, and hand me my license. Seriously?!?! So she didn't check my I.D., ask if the marriage was consensual, make sure Kevin was not my brother, blah, blah blah. Evidently they care less in Maryland than in Virginia. Who knows.

So my dress comes in on Thursday (I should have it already, but that's another story in and of itself) and Kay comes in on Wednesday. Then all shall be right in the wedding world. I haven't been sleeping well at night lately. I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's the prospect of getting married, or what, but-I woke up about 2 weeks ago and noticed that I had, for the first time EVER dark circles and bags under my eyes. Clearly I will have to see to those before 11 days and 22 hours from now. But who's counting...

Falling Water and Kentuck Knob

2009-05-24T12:18:00.004-04:00

So Saturday my roommates Kathryn and Corinna and Corinna's co-worker Jocelyn and I went up to Pennsylvania to see the architect Frank Lloyd Wright's homes. It was a lot of fun to see how the houses were built right into the mountain side and incorporated the land around into the home itself. When most people would see a huge boulder in the middle of where they would like to build a house, they would say it's a problem, but Mr. Wright said it was a challenge. In the Falling Water house he used the boulder as the center-most part of the house, and it's completely built around the boulder. It was awesome!

This is the front door of Kentuck Knob. The house is completely made of stone with flagstone on the floor throughout the house. He said it made it so that you could have warm feet and a cool head. I touched the flagstone with my foot-it was cold, so whatever.

We weren't allowed to take anypictures inside, but it was really cool.

Proof that the house is made of stone-an 18 foot drop off from the living room.

Two views of the land where Kentuck Knob is built. These pictures don't do justice. It was BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Falling water from afar. It's amazing just to see it.

There is a terrace off every room of the house.

This is a plunge pool where the residents (when they still lived there) dipped every morning as a nice way to wake up. Talk about brisk in the winter!

The four of us in front of the house-literally. The lady taking the picture didn't try to get the house in the view. Oh well!

Ugh...Life

2009-04-09T10:26:00.009-04:00

I suck. There was this whole thing that was really funny that I was going to blog about, but none of the links were working, so now nobody gets to find out about it. I get to keep this secret all to myself and laugh. People will look at me funny because I'm sitting around laughing-all by myself, and nobody will know what to say. Poor Kevin. Trying to help me over Facebook IM, and everything. Oh the patience of that man. He's amazing. Trust me though-it was good. It was from the Onion. You would have liked it.

Engagement Photos in the Cherry Blossoms

2009-04-04T21:18:00.011-04:00

So Kevin and I went and took our engagement photos this morning, and since he's at the priesthood session of conference, I actually have time to update my blog. If I don't do this now, nobody will ever see these photos (except for those of you on Facebook or if you receive an invitation). So now is as good a time as any. It was so windy this morning, but we had to get it done this morning because the Cherry Blossom Festival is currently going on, and today was the big parade downtown and we needed to do it before the hoards of people came. I didn't put all the photos up, just a few of my favorites. We had a good time, even though I was freezing!

Murder in Margaritaland

2009-03-02T18:59:00.013-05:00

So this past weekend my two roommates and Kevin all participated in a Murder Mystery Dinner hosted by one of our friends from church. It was titled Murder in Margaritaland. It was a lot of fun. Kevin was a wealthy old man named Thurston Howard III. He had a girl friend who he bought everything for, and tragically, that was me-Candy Cotton (does this sound like real life at all...?). My roommate Kathryn was Izzie Islander-a local girl in love with the bartender and Corinna was Sgt. Lord-the friend of the man who owned Margaritaland. We had a ton of fun. My character was cheating on Thurston with the bartender-who got murdered, and Kevin was a prime suspect seeing as how my infidelity was exposed. Alas, it was neither one of us but it was the life guard of the resort. Thank heavens I got to keep my Thurston (and also his money!).

The 4 of us: Izzie Islander, Candy Cotton, Thurston Howard III and Sgt. Lord

Candy Cotton

Candy Cotton and Thurston Howard III

Thurston Howard III

"Oh Thurston, I need you, I want you, oh baby oh baby"

What a cantankerous old man

Chatting it up with Kylie Cocktail

Hearing the final results

The entire group

I won for best costume. My prize: a margarita cup

Kevin's gettin' hitched

2009-02-03T22:03:00.003-05:00

So it's now officially official. Kevin and I have a date. He called the temple today and set the date.

AUGUST 1st. Yay!!!!

We're getting married at 1 o'clock in the afternoon in the Washington DC temple. All are invited to come on out if you so desire. We'd love to have anyone and everyone.

There will be a reception afterwards with tons of dancing (and yes that includes Kevin!). Kevin knows that he has to dance, so with that said-watch out. Thank you all for all your support and love. Hope to see you there!!!!

Why is life so busy?

2009-01-16T11:13:00.002-05:00

Why is it that I only seem to have time to blog once every 2-3 weeks? If it is even that often? My life is crazy busy and I don't even do that much. I work (granted I do work a ton-I'm gone from the house 11 hours Monday-Friday!) but then that's it. My church calling doesn't keep me busy, my school work doesn't keep me busy (because I don't have any yet), and yet-I still don't have time for anything. And now I'm trying to plan a wedding. Sheesh. Where does the time go? Life is crazy. But fun.

My Christmas Vacation

2009-01-05T19:14:00.008-05:00

Christmas and New Years has come and gone. I've been so busy with things, that I haven't been able to catch everybody up on my life. Aside from the engagement that is. Kevin came home with me for Christmas this year, and we had a lot of fun. We spent three days with my mom, and three days with my dad. It was short, but sweet. Here are a few pictures of that trip.

Here is what Kevin did almost the entire 4 hour flight to Denver. He was awake for about the first and last 1/2 hour. I was bored.

Here is Kevin with two of my nephews, Tanner and Brayden.

My family decided to have a Sudoku tournament. It was with my dad, two of my brothers-Mo and Chris, and also me and Kevin. My dad kicked everybody's butts.

New Years Day I went to the temple in DC and low and behold, my best friend from college who is currently serving her mission in the Baltimore, Maryland mission was at the visitor's center!

Corinna, Celeste and Kathryn at the temple to see the beautiful lights.

Kevin and me in front of the temple

I have to live with a BOY

2009-01-01T13:16:00.002-05:00

So it turns out that I'm engaged.

Kevin proposed to me Tuesday night the 30th-exactly 1 year after our meet cute. If that's what you'd like to call it. We met after church one Sunday-December 30, 2007-as it were. We hung out one night, three days later he asked me out, and the rest is history.

We don't know yet when we're getting married, or where, but we'll keep everyone updated as we know what's happening.

I'm so excited! I think actually Kevin's family was more excited than mine. At least that's the way they all sounded when we told them over the phone Tuesday night. Yeah for us!

I would post a picture of something, like us, or the ring or anything, but Kevin has all the pictures of the ring on his camera. I only have it on my phone.

(P.S. If you can name the show where my subject title comes from, we may name our first child after you...)

I went. To New York. Again

2008-12-15T21:37:00.015-05:00

So I went to New York again. This time New York City. I went with Corinna and we had a blast. It was FREEZING!!! It was about 10 degrees colder than DC, and they also had the nasty wind attached to the cold which made it feel colder, but I survived. We were supposed to leave DC Friday night the 5th at 7:30, but our bus didn't show up until 8:20 which put us in NYC at 12:30 instead of 11:30. Oh well-right? We still made it. Then we got to our hostel in Harlem (I didn't actually tell anybody I stayed in Harlem until after I got back because I didn't want people to freak!) about 1:30. We checked in and the guy said to make sure we slept in our own beds because you get fined 10 bucks if you're not. My first reaction was "huh?" because I had only ever stayed in a hostel once before in Boston over the summer when we had our own room, and it didn't matter which bed we slept in. So we go upstairs to room 202 and bust open the door only to find 6 bunk beds mostly full of sleeping girls. One who snored! Oh man was she annoying.

Saturday morning we woke up and went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and looked around for about 2 hours or so. I was really interesting to all the different pieces there. Afterwards we wanted to go to lunch at a diner where the servers are all aspiring actors, but when we arrived, the line was out the door and around the corner, so we decided that we'd go after the show we saw that night for pie or something yummy. We headed across the street to get some pizza, and the place was PACKED! We couldn't find a seat anywhere and after having walked around the museum for 2 hours, all we wanted to do was sit and chill, but no luck. We ate at a counter. After lunch, since we were in Times Square, we decided to head over to the discount Broadway tickets booth to see if we would be able to tell which shows were 1/2 price that day, and when we got there (an hour and a half before they were to open the window) there was already a line forming, so we decided to hop in and wait. After about 1/2 hour we were practically freezing, so I ran across the street to grab a Caramel Apple Spiced Cider from Starbucks, but they were currently out (let me tell you how depressed I was because those things are GOOD!). I settled for hot chocolate, and we managed to get our tickets for the show we wanted to see.

After we finally got our tickets we decided we needed to go to the bathroom because we'd been standing in line for about 2 hours at that point, so we look across the street in Times Square to see if there's a place where we could go, and we see a sign that says Charmin Bathrooms on it. We head across the street, and the line is out the door, but we figure-hey, why not. They were handing out Charmin tissues that had aloe in them, and they felt really nice. I think I'll buy them next time I have a serious cold. Anyway-so we go in and go up the escalator, and there is a huge line for the bathroom, but there's an entertainer guy standing there talking to everybody asking how they are and what not. They had about 20 stalls in the room, and there was a worker that went in and cleaned each one after EVERY use so that when somebody went in, it was nice and fresh. They had your choice of toilet paper in there from nice and soft to sturdy and strong. It was hilarious. I tell people it was the best bathroom experience I've ever had.

After the Charmin bathrooms, we walked around a little bit, did a little shopping and stuff to kill time before it got dark so that we could go to Rockefeller Plaza to see the lights. We finally did that and it was so cool. It was seriously crowded and trying to cross the street right in front of the plaza was crazy. People pushing and shoving and getting upset that there were so many people. Whew! But we made it, took pictures, and got back outta there. We were headed down to the theater to see our show, and we stopped to ask a police man where we were going so that we knew we'd get there and not be late, and he was seriously the most unhelpful police man ever. He was not even interested at all in helping us. Oh well. We found it-no thanks to him.

We saw a musical called Rock of Ages that was a story line all set to '80's rock music. It was really cool and the people who sat in front of us were totally wasted and quite interesting to watch. It was just like being at a real 80's rock concert. Fun times. Afterwards we went to the StarDust Cafe where we were going to go earlier, and we got some hot wings and cheesecake, and watched all the waiters get up on the counter to dance and sing. It was pretty cool to watch them, and to see their talents. We made it back to the hostel, showered, and went to bed in our seriously uncomfortable beds with snory snorerson. Sunday morning we woke up and went to China town and went shopping! We stayed for a couple of hours, and I made one man so unhappy with me. I wanted to buy something, so we were discussing prices, and when I was about to leave, he kept lowering the price until I said ok, then he suddenly changed his mind. I told him I'd come back to get it, and I told him to remember me and my pink hat so that I could come and get the same good deal. When I did he claimed that he never told me that price and that I wouldn't be able to get that good of price anywhere. After haggling him for a few minutes, he finally sold it to me, and I left, after wishing him a Happy Halloween. He called me crazy and told me to get the hell out of his shop. He was so upset. But what's a girl to do when she's offered one price, then told she's not gonna get it?

We ate lunch in China town, then headed to the discount tickets booth again to catch a matinee before our bus left that night. We saw a musical called "13" which had a cast of all 13 year old kids. It was really cute, but I was a little discouraged to know that they all had better singing voices than me, and not only that but knowing that they were making tons more money than me. Oh well. I got over it. After that, we went back to Penn Station to catch our bus to head home. What a weekend. Full of fun and excitement, and we didn't even get mugged. Thank goodness!!!

Our waiter from StarDust Cafe singing, Rockefeller Christmas tree, me at the Charmin bathrooms, me in Times Square, and Corinna and I in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Why oh why?

2008-11-24T13:51:00.003-05:00

So...I'm wondering why my blog doesn't just update itself? That would make my life a whole lot simpler. But unfortunately, my life is not all that stressful to begin with, so I guess it just comes down to me being a lazy bum. I only work. I come home, eat dinner, and basically sit on the couch for the rest of the night watching TV. You'd think that at some point during all that TV watching, I could update the people in my life about what's happening. But again, unfortunately, I don't do anything, so there's really nothing to blog about.

Happy day!!! I almost have my grad school application done. I stayed in my pajamas all day saturday to do it. I sent out the forms for former professors and employers to fill out and to write a letter of recommendation for me, and I even got an email from one of my former professors saying he remembered me, and would love to write me a letter. Yeah for having such a charming and quite unforgettable personality.

Other than that, life is pretty much same old, same old. It's getting cold here, which means I start to complain a lot. More. I mean a lot more than I usually do. Oh well.

And on one last, very important note, Kevin wants to know why people always say "bless you" after somebody sneezes. He thinks it's weird, so I don't get blessed when I sneeze around him. What's that about?

New York was a blast!!!

2008-11-02T20:15:00.014-05:00

Our driving adventure, me being annoyed by Kevin's allergies, and Kevin being an old man? about to sneeze? bored out of his mind?

Wedding dancing!!!

At the wedding. Heather was beautiful and Alec looked handsome. As did Kevin. He looked so good in his suit, and he knew it!

Our Halloween costume. We were Cleopatra and Caesar.

The beautiful scenery.

So Kevin and I drove up Friday afternoon to New York, more specifically, the Catskills for his best friend's wedding. We had so much fun. I cannot actually believe how much free liquor was flowing around that place. We had an itinerary for the entire weekend, and after most of the activities, it said there would be an open bar. I commented to Kevin once that we may have been the only people over the age of 21 not drinking. But the wedding was beautiful. Kevin looked good in his brand new suit and he even behaved himself while standing for the wedding. He looked good! We boogied out on the dance floor for quite some time until his being allergic to New York state took over. He always thought it was just Rochester he was allergic to, but it turns out-it's the entire state. By the time we got back to Virginia-he was basically back to normal. Who'd ever think someone would be allergic to their home state. A little depressing if you ask me. Anyway...the drive up was fantastic-all the fall colors changing. I took pictures, but since I'm really not a photographer, they don't really do the beauty justice. The wedding and the whole resort was gorgeous. I tried to get pictures of every state sign that we passed on the way up, and then again on the way down because I missed some on the way up, and the only one I got both times was Delaware. And that was the only state we were in for less than 1/2 an hour. The rest of the pictures I got were either blurry trees, and cars because either I was too slow, or Kevin was driving too fast. I hope you all enjoy them though. I had so much fun!!!!

Did I fall off the earth again?

2008-10-30T11:56:00.003-04:00

Oh my gosh. Life is so busy. It's been over a month since I have last blogged. There are so many things that I need to do, but haven't yet. The one main thing that comes to mind is calling my best friend from growing up. Brandee-I swear I'll call you sometime before I die. I'm a terrible friend. I had a dream the other night that it was December 7, and I forgot to tell you happy birthday. I felt really guilty. I swear I won't let that happen. Anyway...what's happened since my birthday?!?!

The week after my birthday, Corinna and I went to a Michael Buble concert in Baltimore. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! He's a great entertainer. It was fantastic. I'll post pictures as soon as I can take them off the camera and put them onto the computer. I'm sorta lazy when it comes to that. Corinna had her birthday a couple weeks ago, and we went dancing at Cafe Citron at Dupont Circle in the district. It was a lot of fun. The next night we had a ward activity at the Marriott up by the zoo in the district and there was dancing there too. I think I've gotten Kevin to go dancing more times in the last 9 months than he has in his entire life. And he'll go dancing the next two weekends too!

Last night Kevin, Corinna and I carved pumpkins. It was so much fun. I got lots of pictures, but again, you will have to wait and see them after I manage to take the off my camera. Tomorrow Kevin and I are leaving to go up to New York for Alec's wedding, and I'm really excited. He's less excited about the road trip merely because I can be really annoying with my music ADD, but we'll survive. We have to dress up for the rehearsal dinner in our Halloween costumes, and I'm really excited. We're going as Caesar and Cleopatra.

Bye for now. I'll post pictures of Michael, Pumpkins and of course, Kevin dancing. I'm sure his family will appreciate it!!!

Birthday Bash

2008-09-28T22:20:00.008-04:00

So I had an awesome birthday week. Tuesday was Kevin's birthday, and we met up for lunch. Wednesday was my birthday, and we went out to dinner with my roommate Corinna, and another friend, Marty to an awesomely good Greek place. Friday was the combined birthday party for Kevin and I at my house. We had friends over then went bowling. We had a ton of fun with everybody, and even won a few of free games to come back and use! This was quite a memorable birthday. I wish every birthday was a golden birthday, but alas, I will never again turn 24 on the 24th. Thanks everybody for making it amazing!

I'm showing off my birthday presents from Kevin and Corinna. The picture frame in the back is what I gave Kevin.

Action shot

He just about passed out from having to blow out ONLY 24 candles, even though technically he should have blown out 26. And he still missed two.

Our birthday cakes. Kevin had carrot cake, and I had yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Yum...

Doesn't he just look more than thrilled to...be bowling, to have his picture taken, to be looking at me?

The world became more beautiful...

2008-09-24T10:32:00.002-04:00

...24 years ago today. Happy Birthday to me!

Wedding Receptions, Bouquets, and Dodging Bullets

2008-09-20T22:28:00.008-04:00

Well, tonight, I attended a wedding reception. I had a marvelous time. There was good food, and lots of dancing, which are really my only two requirements in wedding receptions. The best part of the whole night was...yes, you guessed it. The throwing of the bouquet. Now, seeing as I have been in a serious relationship for 8 months now, people had expectations. High expectations. So, the flowers were tossed, and came straight to me. Alas, there was somebody, a good friend mind you, standing in front of me. I reached out and grabbed the flowers just as Abby did. She had a better grip because she had the bottom, and I had the top. I actually ripped out a couple of roses in the grabbing process. Well, feeling dejected and quite sad, I left the dance floor, only to be told by another friend, that Kevin was over thanking Abby for catching the bouquet. I questioned him about this, and he said he was simply telling her that he was grateful because she helped him dodge a bullet. WHAT?!?! Am I that un-marry-able that he feels the whole process is a bullet he needs to dodge? Where did this whole philosophy come from about the person who catches the bouquet is the next one to get married anyway? Silly traditions. Whateves. I'm sure he'll have his own comments about this whole thing, but we'll all just have to wait for his witty response.

This is Kevin and I at the reception. This was pre-dodging bullets comment :)

We danced! He even went willingly.

Corinna and I looking cute as always!

Pirate Kathryn the Ochre...

2008-09-19T09:58:00.004-04:00

So today is international talk like a pirate day. To commemorate, Kevin and I are eating dinner at a place called Mango Mike's where they serve Caribbean style food with that kind of atmosphere. We were going to go loot a ship, but alas, we could not find one. Then, we were thinking we were going to watch Pirates of the Caribbean, but I don't own it, so I did the next best thing. No, not rent it, borrowed a different movie from a friend. We now will be watching The Goonies, which, as people should know, also has to do with pirates. They're going off and looking for a treasure left by one-eyed Willie, the pirate. It'll be fun. Kevin's mom attached a link on her blog where you could go find out your pirate name. Mine, apparently, is Pirate Kathryn the Ochre. I can totally see how they got that from Celeste.

Well, on to something just as fun, but on an entirely different topic, it's official. Georgia can walk. She walks for me all the time. She'll walk around the house, out front on the sidewalk, basically anywhere. But for some reason, she's more reluctant to do it for her parents. It wasn't until this morning that her dad, Ben, saw her walk for the first time. They've left the video camera out so I can make a movie of all the fun things she does when they're not home. And on a smart note, Georgia is. I've been teaching her sign language so that she can communicate until she learns how to talk for real. Each day when she wakes up from her nap, I ask her if she wants milk (doing the sign for milk of course). Then she does it, and crawls to the fridge. As I'm pouring it, she'll say, "Please please please (while again, doing the sign). Then I'll go to hand it to her, and she'll go to take it, then stop, say thank you (once again, you've guessed it, with the sign) and then take it. Who knew I, of all people could teach somebody manners. She's the cutest kid ever.

Sorry this is so long, but I'm not quite done. Moving on to less fun things. This has been the week for the breaking down of cars. I'm pretty sure I'm the one who has all the bad luck, because it's all associated with me. Well... Tuesday night was institute. Kevin was supposed to show up, but he didn't. I called him because I was all worried that he was laying dead on the side of the road, but he wasn't. He said his ignition was locked or something because he couldn't turn the car on. The wheel wasn't locked, so that wasn't the problem, it was something else entirely. So then Thursday, he had a locksmith come out and look at it, but that wasn't the problem. So he had to have it towed to a repair shop. Then, yesterday, I was out in the car that my employers let me drive while I'm working, and it wouldn't start. The battery wasn't dead, it was the starter. So then it too, was taken to a repair shop. Oh the joys of cars. I should not be affiliated with them anymore. I only get people into trouble.

On the plus side, it's the weekend, and I get to sleep in tomorrow. Yay!

The great great Gettysburg

2008-09-14T17:16:00.009-04:00

So this weekend, my ward had a retreat up in the "mountains" of Maryland (I say "mountains" because being from Colorado, I know what mountains are. We were actually in foothills. I should know, I grew up in the foothills). We were only about 1/2 hour away from Gettysburg, so a bunch of our group decided to drive up there to check it out. It was a lot of fun. I drove up Saturday morning with my roommate and we spent all day Saturday, and part of Sunday there, then came home Sunday afternoon.

This is Kevin getting his head shoved into a cannon by two of my friends. He wasn't very happy.

This is a picture of some of the battle grounds.

This is the Gettysburg Address Memorial. The address was given about 300 yards from here.

We went for a walk, I made him carry my camera in case I wanted to take a picture of something. When, towards the end of our walk, he told me I needed to take a picture, I decided to take a picture of us. Notice his "bonecrusher" name tag? He thinks he's tough.

The time has come my little one...

2008-09-10T18:40:00.002-04:00

The time has come my little one to talk of planes, trains and automobiles. Wait...what? We'll start with planes. Plane tickets are freaking expensive this year. I don't know if I'm looking in all the wrong places, if I'm still too early, or the time for cheap tickets has past. Like 10 years ago. Who knows. What I do know is that I'm attempting to go home for Christmas, while convincing my ever loving boyfriend that my family is crazier than I am (quite hard to do given the craziness of yours truly) because he so graciously agreed to come home with me. He may in fact be even more excited than I am. I know all my family members are!

Trains...I don't have much to say on trains. I've taken one a couple of times, but that was in Europe. Unless you count the train at Tiny Town which I used to love. Or that one park that has the train. I don't remember which one it is. Mom would know. Any who...I guess I could take a train home for Christmas, but I only get so much time off work.

Now moving on to AUTOMOBILES!! Kevin bought a car this week. Thank goodness for me to give him that much needed push-right? Well, the fact of the matter is...he has a car. Now I don't have to take a cab home on the weekends, even if I do only stay out until 10. He gets to drive me home now!

Alright. I've rambled enough for now. You've heard my venting on planes, and that's really all I wanted to do. Have a great one!!!

My Crazy Life on a Daily Basis

2008-09-03T19:17:00.010-04:00

So as many of you know, I'm a nanny. Ever since I started, people have been bugging me to take pictures of the kiddos so they can see what they look like. Now I have. I just took these today while the kids were jumping on me, and it got kinda wild. Enjoy! They're cuties.

Just after getting pushed down by her big brother. You'd think she'd be used to it by now.

I finally got a good picture of him so people can actually see what he looks like. A very, very smart 4 year old.

This is what Quentin typically looks like. With his mouth open either talking, singing, or yelling. After he realized I was taking pictures of him, he tried to be funny.

I was laying on the floor, and Georgie crawled on top of me. She's cute. She turns 14 months tomorrow. Not quite walking, but OH SO CLOSE!!!! See the long line of drool from her mouth on down, and how the front of her outfit is completely soaked? This is a daily occurance. Apparently it's a very wet process to grow teeth.

Quentin and Georgia racing. Quentin always wins.

2008-08-31T23:41:00.003-04:00

Our nose bleed seats at the Nat's game. they actually weren't too bad.

I turned around and he kinda caught me off guard by taking my picture. Good thing I'm so photogenic huh?

This is me sitting in the car waiting for Kevin. He was taking a long time at the leasing office, I was bored, and I had my camera!

This was just after he got his strike. He was really excited!

This was just before he got a strike.

This was us at the bowling alley. I think, if you look close enough into his eyes, he already knows he's going to lose.

Bowling and Baseball (and moving but that doesn't start with a 'b')

2008-08-31T23:19:00.004-04:00

So I had a most excellent weekend. Friday night Kevin and I went bowling. We played two games, and I kicked his butt both times. It was fun though. Who would expect anything less from me! Then Saturday morning, bright and early, I helped Kevin move from his old place to his new place. We got it all set up, and it looks great. It'll do for now. We're going shopping tomorrow to get him all the odds and ends that he needs that he didn't know until now that he needed. Saturday night we went to a Nationals Baseball game. It was a lot of fun. Tickets were only 5 bucks, so it was totally worth it.

I have the next two days off work, so I'm trying to find stuff to do to fill the time. There's always the filling out of graduate school applications, which I've been putting off for about two years now, so maybe I'll get around to that. Or maybe I'll lay in bed and watch a movie. Both good options. Well, if I can figure out how to post pictures so they're not zooming all over the place, I'll post some of me kicking Kevin's butt at bowling, but if not, use your imagination.

I'm not at work...

2008-08-28T11:11:00.002-04:00

So because I have the BEST job ever, I'm not at work today. Or tomorrow, or Monday (for obvious reasons) or Tuesday. My family went out of town to Texas for a long Labor Day weekend, and I get the time off. Paid. Oh, and I get to use their extra car. For the WHOLE weekend. That means a real date with Kevin. Wahoo! So now I'm just at home trying to find stuff to do to distract me from the stuff I should be doing (i.e. cleaning my house and doing my laundry).

So for those of you who know me-even a little bit, you will understand The Daily Puppy. I love dogs. More specifically, puppies. I don't really understand what the obsession is all about, but whatever. A new picture comes up everyday, and I'm really excited, because as I mentioned before, I love puppies.

Ok. I've run out of stuff to say. I'm helping Kevin move this weekend out of his apartment and away from the (I'm not the one who said crazy) roommate. It's exciting! Now I'm gonna go clean the bathroom.

2008-08-26T23:03:00.000-04:00

So here it goes...

2008-08-26T18:44:00.003-04:00

This is not my first attempt at being part of the 21st century, but this my first attempt at really, truely trying to stay connected with everyone. I feel so out of the loop because everybody has a blog, but not me. So here it goes. I guess the point of this thing is to keep people updated on the haps of my life, because it seems people are interested. So...as of this moment, here's the most recent update.

As of December 5, 2007 I moved out to the Washington DC/NOVA (a.k.a northern virginia) area to start anew. After three long months of looking for a job, I finally started the BEST job I could ever hope for-I'm a nanny. The nanners (work with me here-employee/employer-get it ha ha) are 1 and 4. Girl and boy respectively, Georgia and Quentin. They are the best children ever.

I also have a boyfriend. I actually got a boyfriend before I got a job. He didn't give me a chance to meet anybody else when I moved out here. Six weeks of living here, he asked me out, and we started dating, and now he's not willing to let me go. Not like I want him to anyways.

So...goodbye for now. I have to go to institute soon. And I have not yet eaten dinner. I love you all.